Sunday, June 13, 2010

Antigua Vacation Part 2

Jason and I had the privilage of doing many fun things while on vacation. I saw this thing sitting on the side of the beach and knew instantly that we just had to try it.




I mean it looks cool, right. Who wouldn't want to give it a try. We pedaled our little butts off, for sure thinking that we had gotten so far out in the ocean that our resort would be a tiny speck in the distant...we had traveled five feet. We were going against the current and the darn thing just wasn't efficient at traveling. It was pretty much at that point we said, "well at least we can say we tried it", and headed back to shore. And by heading back to shore I mean, letting the current bring us back in as we steered. But other activities proved to be much more fun and fulfulling.



Snorkeling by far was the most fun. We had been snorkeling once before on our honeymoon, and that time we were surrounded by a huge group of people and three other boats that also had huge groups of people. Not to mention the fact that there was only one fish that wasn't icky brown colored. But this time...this time was awesome. We went out to an actual reef with maybe ten other people. The reef was absolutely teaming with fish...literally we saw teams of fish!



Before Jason went to Iraq we invested in this heavy duty, crazy cool camera that could withstand extreme cold and hot and sand and impacts...and water. I must admit that I was very nervous jumping into an ocean with a camera that had no other protection other than a little note on the side saying it was safe at up to 10 meters depth.



But the camera didn't fail and Jason snapped away. We ended up pulling away from the rest of the crowd and it was just Jason, me, and our guide nicknamed Sharkbait. I don't know how safe I felt about that...But we spied the biggest puffer fish I had ever seen.



The thing had to be over a foot long. The coral all around us was gorgeous, and we made sure to be very respectful and didn't touch anything.



There was a lot to look at. We could have stayed out there all day exploring the ocean, but Sharkbait and our Captain "Squeaky" signaled us in after only thirty minutes.



Getting back into the boat was fun because they had thrown out food in an effort to attract some fishies.



This is me reaching out trying to touch one. The fish weren't too happy with that idea, for some reason they kept swimming away.



Part 3 will include swim up bars, ziplining, and bees!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Antigua Part 1

For one week we were in paradise. I miss paradise. Paradise didn't have sick dogs, or work, or school. Paradise didn't make us cook our own food, or pay for our own booze. I really miss paradise.



Needless to say, Jason and I enjoyed our vacation to Antigua. Our all inclusive resort was beyond beautiful, the staff was friendly, the food and drinks delicious...and we got a free upgrade to our room when we arrived...which meant...



Free stocked bar in the room!!! So we did the only natural thing after 14 hours of travel to get to this wonderful paradise...



We celebrated...



...and lounged. But after that long tedious day of airports and planes, we rested peacefully and awoke to this view.



So we weren't super close to the ocean, but that was ok. We were nestled in this wonderful little area with our own pool and surrounded by gorgeous tropical plants. It was quiet, and peaceful, and it was easy to forget that there were hundreds of other people spread throughout the resort.



And it was just a short walk to all the fun activity. There were seven different restaurants and two different swim up bars. When we weren't lounging on floaties in the pool soaking up the sun, we were stuffing our faces at all the restaurants. But it didn't matter where we were, the view was always spectacular.



This was my first time in the Carribbean, I had never seen water so blue, or crystal clear



We debated for quite some time about taking a vacation like this, and spending a significant chunk of money.




But after over 12 months of Jason and I being apart from each other I think this vacation to this paradise was more than justified.

Many more pictures and stories to come!